KATYUSHA TEAM HAS GATHERED WAY
The presentation of Pro Tour Katyusha-2010, a Russian Cycling Team, has taken place in Alberti Theater of Desenzano del Garda, a picturesque Italian township. Sergei Chemezov, Chairman of the Board of Guardians of Federation of Bicycling of Russia (FBR), General Director of Rostechnologii (Russian Technologies), the state corporation, Igor Makarov, Deputy Chairman of the FBR Board of Guardians, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ITERA International Group of Companies, Angelo Zomegnan, Director of Giro d’Italia, and Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Belgium, took part in it. – We finished last season on an up note, – Andrew Chmil, President of Katyusha, noted. – We applied our will-to-win spirit and took a well-deserved place among the world bicycling leaders. Today, our desire to win, anticipation of the victory and exercise anxiety is even stronger than last year. 65 percent of the racers are Russians. This is why, despite the fact the team is a multinational one, its spirit is Russian. The assistance provided by Rostechnologii, Gazprom and ITERA allowed for efficient implementation of the unprecedented domestic bicycling development project. – I was involved in creation of Alfa Lum, the first Soviet professional team in 1989, – Sergei Chemezov said. – Now we have a true Russian team consisting mainly of promising native racers. I hope, Katyusha is looking for a number of good victories. One would not win, unless he establishes an ambitious goal. We would certainly like to win Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, but the main task for now is to give young Russian athletes a possibility to enhance their mastery in their professional team. – The professional Katyusha team is sort of a top division in bicycling where our athletes get prepared to the Olympic Games and World Championship, - Igor Makarov stressed. – We managed to put together a formidable Board of Guardians, which worthily provides for operation of the entire system. Aside from ITERA, participants in the Board of Guardians are Rostechnologii, Gazprom, Transneft, Novicombank, Vnesheconombank, Vneshtorgbank, Sberbank, Gazprombank, Bank of Moscow, AFK Sistema and other larger state and business entities. Despite the crisis, we are going to fulfill obligations to the team in full. Financing is certainly a complicated issue, but it can be solved, anyway. I am grateful to managers of Katyusha for the very good job they have done. Technically speaking, today we are the world best team, already. We are proud to state: our athletes have everything they need to demonstrate high results. The unanimous opinion of athletes is that Katyusha has become stronger this season and it is ready to contest for the podium of the most prestigious competitions. All rights reserved. © ITERA, 1992 - 2006 |